I love to make lists and then go back and check things off. It feels like I am being so productive and actually I am. I need to make lists in order to be productive otherwise even though I do things somehow I don’t count them unless they were on a list somewhere. So sometimes I’ll go back and add them to a previous list as a sub-category. That way my personal adding-up-the-work machine gives me credit and I can feel all organized and, like I said, productive.

Another thing about making lists is that I can use them to get somewhere in my thinking and then somewhere in my doing. A list can start out randomly:

take time to read, go for a run, do the bills, set up the calendar for next month, research the difference between a 401k, a Roth IRA, and an IRA., work on the Corp stuff . . .

Then I can work the list into a time or a priority framework:

set up the calendar for next month

go for a run

work on the Corp stuff

take time to read

research the difference between/amongst a 401k, Roth IRA, and an IRA

do the bills

Once I’ve taken a list this far, I usually let it jell while I start on item #1. Oh yeah, I should add that I may start this whole process by going back to previous lists to make sure everything got checked off. If something is still undone, I like to think about why that happened. (Like most humans, I am pretty good at procrastinating.) And if it’s still important, I’ll add it to the new list.

Listing is also an excellent way to work out my thoughts when I am writing. This is especially useful when I am trying to describe some object or event without using the same old . . .

Same, familiar, familiar idea, repeat reference, . . .

Old, not new, rusty, dusty, tired, lifeless,

without using the rusty, dusty, tired phrasing of old.

So now it’s time to put together a list for real.

Write a post a day

Work at least an hour a day on the Corp and Real Estate businesses

Ride my bike out into the beautiful California sunshine and up hill and down dale remembering that line from Anyone lived in a pretty how town by ee cummings

Research how to blog better on the internet

Be home when T. gets home so that we can spend more and more time together